Local News

State Sen. R.C. Soles Jr., back in his Tabor City office full time now that the Senate has adjourned for the year, on Monday said he was willing to answer questions raised in recent weeks about his relationship with several young clients, a fire that gutted the home of one, and allegations he has made large cash payments to those young men.

“I’ll answer any question you want to ask me,” Soles said. “I may not like the questions, but I’ll answer them.”

BOLIVIA—Dog adoptions will resume at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, at the Brunswick County Animal Shelter after illness forced a month-long suspension.

The shelter suspended dog adoptions July 15 after two dogs were diagnosed with distemper, a highly contagious respiratory illness.

A decision to resume adoptions was made following consultations with the shelter veterinarian and experts at North Carolina State University, according to a press release issued Friday morning by the Brunswick County Health Department.

OCEAN ISLE BEACH—A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) who took 83 sea turtle babies from their Ocean Isle Beach nest.

Gloria Hillenburg, coordinator of the Turtle Patrol, said a nest at West First Street was disturbed just after 7 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 6. The nest had been closely monitored for days, as the turtles had hatched underneath the nest’s surface.

Shallotte’s Rourk Gardens was the site of a “Hands off My Healthcare” protest last week, when Americans for Prosperity and the John Locke Foundation stopped by in a “Patients First” bus. Hundreds of people concerned about healthcare reform gathered to listen and speak out.

A Brunswick County grassroots group, “We the People,” formed four-and-a-half months ago to learn more about healthcare reform and to campaign against the bill now in Congress.

OCEAN ISLE BEACH—A request for the board of commissioners to change an ordinance that prohibits skydiving from the Odell Williamson Municipal Airport has been denied.

“It’s a safety matter,” commissioner D.B. Grantham said.

Bill Leppert, a commercial pilot and flight instructor at Ocean Isle Beach Aviation, approached the board of commissioners in March with a skydiving presentation, hoping to bring the air sport to Ocean Isle Beach.

OCEAN ISLE BEACH—Although the bill to make terminal groins legal in North Carolina is stalled in an N.C. House committee, a new bill passed Monday that will allow further research on the structure.

House Bill 709 is intended to “address erosion control issues,” and gives permission to the Coastal Resources Commission to conduct a feasibility and advisability study of a terminal groin as an “erosion control device.”